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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  November 1, 2012 6:00am-8:00am PDT

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newsroom" with carol costello and see everyone tomorrow on "starting point." carol, good morning. good morning. today, barrier island barely recognizable. democrats and republicans set aside their differences to rush emergency aid to the storm zone. one lawmaker says not so fast. he said we should learn from the aid given to the victims of hurricane katrina. >> gucci bags and massage parlors and everything you can think of. >> we will hear more from iowa congressman steve king straight ahead. likely target, school's former president, why he could be charged with perjury. plus this -- >> when negative ads and robo calls quit working, the political campaigns show up on
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doorsteps in ohio. what's it like to be a door-to-door campaign volunteer? newsroom starts now. good morning. thank you so much for joining us. i'm carol costello. new death toll and deepening concern from hurricane sandy three days after the storm washed ashore. here is a time lapsed video. that's what you're look iing at right now. watch the right side of your screen as the new york city skyline is plunged into darkness. there it goes. today, nearly 5 million homes and businesses are still without power. the death toll is inching up again. superstorm blamed for 56 deaths in the united states. half the victims just in new york city. the mayor says he expects that number to rise. officials say it is a miracle no one died in the firestorm that burned 111 homes to the ground in queens. likely cause? broken lines of natural gas.
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dozens of those fires still burn in several states. we'll have more on that in a minute. last of the patients are now evacuated from new york's bellevue hospital. national guard troops lined the stair dels well to usher out more than 700 patients. soldiers call themselves, quote, a human bucket brigade. jersey shore's fragile barrier islands weren't even a speed bump. ferocious winds and surging floodwaters have left towns and lives in ruins. michael holmes has the latest from the coast. >> reporter: these communities holiday meccas, unrecognizable. surf club pounded into pieces, main roads are buckled, famed boardwalks splintered. those who remained and survived wondered and rued their decision to stay. >> we just couldn't believe the devastation, sick to our
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stomachs and pray that everybody is safe, and we're safe. >> reporter: more and more evacuated to the mainland. many still in shock. >> as i was down in the basement, debris hit one of the windows and burst it open. the water started rushing in. all i could hear was jack say run, run, run! >> reporter: this man, whose wife had alzheimer's, gave in to her pleas to stay in familiar surroundings. >> i really would have gotten out. like i said, with my wife, her condition -- >> jim clancy is also with cnn. jim is in that area right now. jim, is there a sense that the danger has passed? >> reporter: there's a sense that they faced down the destruction that has been caused. they've now seen those images that you showed, you saw the
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faces of those evacuees, what they've been through. there are still dangers looming out there, a long way to go. the gas lines you were talking about are still a challenge in some areas. some residents challenging why they haven't been cut off much earlier. and there's hopes that that can be done today. not as easy as it sounds. gaining access to where they can cut off these lines still will leave some of those lines pressurized. there's still a potential threat there. of course, before they can reenergize any of the electric lines in some of these communities, they have to ensure that job is done, carol. otherwise, it could ignite new fires. there's one of the major risks that remains. there are still some people that are holding out, some elderly with their pets, but they're about to give it up. there's no electricity. there's no prospect that anything is going to be coming back online here in belmar any time soon, in a matter of hours or even days. so, people are resigned to the fact that they're going to have to -- even the most stubborn --
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to leave. it's a situation of people coming to be aware of what's happened to them and how lucky they've really been, and how much work is yet to go. carol? >> absolutely. jim clancy reporting live for us this morning. getting around new york city is still quite the nightmare. laguardia hit hard by superstorm sandy opened a few hours ago but with limited service. also limited service at some of the other new york airports. this morning a few subway lines are back up and run ining. trains will stay away from lower manhattan where the power is still out. buses, as you might expect, are packed with many people waiting hours in line to get on board. the good news? all public transportation is free today and tomorrow. oh, but then there's the traffic gridlock. treats are packed and mayor michael bloomberg says all cars coming into manhattan must have at least three people inside. one lawmaker is balking at the
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idea of spending your tax dollars there. steve king is a republican congressman from landlocked iowa, a fiscal conservative who often rails against spending. in fact, he gained prominence for opposing federal aid for victims of hurricane katrina. he says that can teach us lessons now. >> i want to get them resources to lift them out of this water and the sand and the ashes and the death that's over there in the east coast and especially in the northeast. but not one big check, because they send it on gucci bags and massage parlors and everything you can think of in addition to what was necessary. >> representative king said that during a debate. his democratic opponent seized on his comment in the final debate before tuesday's election called king's words, quote, heartless. president obama back on the campaign trail, but still following efforts of superstorm
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sandy, spending wednesday afternoon with new jersey governor chris christie. the two saw devastated areas from the air on marine one and met with people in the oceanside city, both trying to lift the spirits of residents left to pick up the pieces and pledging to work together. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and the people of our state. and on the phone conversation with his him, was able to witness it today personally. >> the people of new jersey recognize that he has put his heart and soul into making sure that the people of new jersey bounce back even stronger than before. >> white house correspondent brianna keilar joins us from green bay, wisconsin, where the president will make his first campaign stop since the storm. brianna, will the president -- of course the president will continue to monitor from wisconsin, right?
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>> reporter: of course, he will, carol. we're hearing from white house officials that before he leaves this morning, heading back on the campaign trail, he will be receiving a briefing from the head of fema, craig fugate as well as his top aides, and he will remain in contact with them while he is traveling here today to wisconsin, also to nevada and colorado and that he will be doing conference call with his local officials from areas where the storm has hit. as you know, air force one is equipped so that he can stay in constant contact while he travels, carol. >> what do you think his tone will be out on the campaign trail today? >> reporter: i think we've seen a little bit of a break, obviously, from a lot of the harsh back and forth. but we're going to start to see it ramping back up. i do know from a campaign source that when president obama comes here to the airport this morning in the 11:00 eastern hour, he will be talking about the storm at the beginning of his remarks,
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but he's also going to be making his case for why he should be re-elected. we'll be seeing him re-entering into the political fray and certainly we'll be seeing things heating up again going into election day. when you look at wisconsin, this is a place where, obviously, it's key. it's a battleground state. president obama has had a small lead. and he needs to maintain that. he is trying to shore up support. you look at a poll out this morning from nbc wall street journal. it has him up three points here. that is important, but it is not really comfortable. there was a poll out yesterday from marquette university, a local poll done out of milwaukee that had him up much more than that, eight points. you talk to the obama campaign, certainly they're pointing to the marquette poll. they want this appearance that they're doing very well and just trying to hold their lead here. it seems more likely that their internal polls are somewhere in between those two polls, carol. something also interesting today when the president speaks, ahead
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of him charles woodson, safety for the green bay packers, will be firing up crowd. you know folks here in green bay love the packers. he is a safety. what does the safety do? the safety protects against long passes -- that's right, the hail mary. that's something that the obama campaign is trying to do here in wisconsin. >> that makes me wonder, that long line behind you, are they waiting to see charles woodson or president obama? >> reporter: you know, it's hard to tell. but, yeah, i think the crowd is here to see both of them. obviously this is a crowd of supporters of president obama. very dedicated, i have to say. it is freezing cold here. and they are lined up. there is a ton of people you can't even see off camera. and they are ready for this event, carol. >> they're used to the cold. brianna keilar, thanks so much. mitt romney already back on the campaign trail. he will hold three different rallies in virginia, beginning
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next hour in roanoke and then later in verge yain beach and doswell. he canceled because of superstorm sandy. at times yesterday during his visit in florida he used a softer tone in his campaign message. >> that's one of the great characteristics of our people. we come together in times of trial. this is one of those times for millions of people in our country. do your very best in your prayers, your thoughts and with your funds, if you can. in seven days the whole nation is going to come together. in seven days after the election is over, we're going to come together and do the work that needs to be done. >> romney's softer tone did not last long. did he attack the president over his response to the killing of four americans in benghazi, libya. the jobs report, tomorrow's number from the labor department will be the last one we'll get before the election.
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but we've already gotten an advance indicator this morning. payroll numbers. and the woman in the know, alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. so, share. >> reporter: adp says private employers added 158,000 jobs in october. this could be a good indication over the big show, and that is the government report that comes out friday. government jobs report expectations comes in at a bit less than that. pegging that number anywhere from 105,000 to 130,000. you know, any way you slice it, we're still at a point where we're only adding enough to barely keep up the population growth. it's not going to bring down unemployment in a significant way at this point. it's been kind of stuck. the economy added 114,000 jobs in september. this one is the last option before the election. it takes on that much more importance. both sides are likely to find something to talk about.
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president obama would say it's better than the 800,000 jobs we were losing when he took office. and romney could come out and say the unemployment rate is still high. and both would be right. economists would say it doesn't really matter. what's going on in your own life? do you have a job? does your spouse have a job? most people will vote with what is happening in their own lives. >> most people hear blah, blah, blah. >> it is really what you're feeling more than statistical. more charges expected in the penn state sex abuse case against the university's former president, graham spanier. multiple reports say pennsylvania's attorney general is expected to announce perjury and obstruction of justice charges against spanier later today. as you know, spanier, in the
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wake of sandusky's scandal resigned. and he denied knowing about a school police investigation. making it harder for some people to get to the polls. president obama: there's just no quit in america...
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and you're seeing that right now. over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message.
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as you well know, the election is so close, a handful of votes could decide who wins the white house. according to the brennan center for justice, 14 states have laws restricting voter registration drive, early voting, forcing some voters to show an idea. those 14 states are worth 185 electoral votes, 68% of what's needed to win. so, is voting fraud a big problem? will what i just said affect the election? nicole austin hilary joins us
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from washington this morning. good morning. >> good morning, carol. >> let's talk about these new laws put in place in many states across the nation. how will this affect voting tuesday? >> in 2011, the brennan center issued a report. when we first saw the onslaught of these laws being introduced across the country. we were extremely worried because it looked like up to 5 million voters would be impacted by these laws in such a way where many of them might have their right to vote encumbered. we issued a new report, however, a year later. it just came out last week -- early this week that showed that because of the pushback that happened across the country, because of the department of justice, citizen referenda, court and other initiatives, there has been a great deal of success in pushingi inin ining respect to these laws. that number is far fewer in
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terms of how many voters will be impacted. most courts have ruled where there has been litigation that these laws will not go into effect before the november 6th election. we are very hopeful and very exuberant about the fkt that many more voters will not have their right to vote encumbered. >> many of these laws were going to be put into place to prevent voter fraud. the push really started in florida. their voter rules were examined. lawsuits were filed. how much voter fraud was actually found in florida, do you know? >> you know, let me say this generally, carol. the last bush administration actually did its own investigation to look at this whole issue of voter fraud. what they found at the conclusion of their investigation is that issues of voter fraud were quite at the minimums. various laws introduced throughout this past year, attempts at voter fraud have, again, continued to be
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deminimus. we don't really think this is as big an issue as some had previously thought. and, look, the brennan center, along with many other organizations that fight for voting rights, none of us wants to see voter fraud. we all think it's wrong. when it does exist we want it stamped out. the truth is that there's really little evidence that it exists. >> let's talk about ohio. some election officials there tried to restrict early voting. as you said a judge threw that out. so, you know, they were really worried that early voting might have a less than desirable effect on the election in ohio. has it? >> well, you know, i think the jury is still out on that. as we know, early voting is still going on in many parts of the country. what we are happy to report, though, is that -- as you said, early voting has been able to go forward in ohio, as it has in many other jurisdictions. the numbers are out. i think even your own network has been reporting, how the
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lines have been long, exuberance has been shown by voters. we are bouyed by the fact that voteers are engaged. we want voters to be engaged in our electoral system and voice their opinion through the ballot box. it looks like in ohio that's happening as well for those voters. >> nicole austin-hillery, thank you for joining us this morning. >> you're welcome, carol. >> talk back question for you this morning, is fema necessary? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll be back.
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now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, is fema necessary? fema fever, it's back! everybody has caught it, including new jersey governor, chris christie, who toured the damage along with fema administrator craig fugate and president obama. one man, iowa congressman, steve king, thinks fema has a fever. >> i want to get them the
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resources that are necessary to lift them out of this water and this sand and the ashes and the death that's over there in the east coast and especially in the northeast. but not one big shot that just opens up the checkbook, because they spent it on gucci bags and massage parlors and everything you can think of in addition to what was necessary. >> congressman king, who is up for re-election, seems to be echoing the sentiments of some of his republican, including senator lynndie graham who said, quote, we can't borrow money every time something goes wropg in america and ron paul who asks, quote, why should people like myself, who not too long ago had a house on a gulf coast, it's expensive, risky and dirngous. why should somebody from the central part of the united states rebuild my house? after all, fema represents big government. gucci bag and trip to the massage parlor would be tops on your list if your home or business was gone. >> i was shocked that he even
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came to my marina. it was very heartwarming. for him to have the director of fema with him and to shake his hand and both to say that we will get help almost immediately was very calming to me. >> that's one new jersey woman who is counting on fema to fulfill its mission. which is, in part, to offer housing, medical and property assistance after both natural and man-made disasters. mitt romney suddenly yearned for that very thing after refusing to answer whether he favors doing away with fema 14 times, his campaign spun this answer. quote, i believe that fema plays a key role in working with states and localities to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. as president, i will make sure that the fema has the funding it needs to fulfill its mission. that's different from what he said during a debate. >> some people say do it on a case by case basis but some
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people say maybe we're learning the lesson here, that states should take on more of that role. >> absolutely. every time you have an occasion and take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. >> in the wake of sandy, it seems those against fema's future may be having a change of heart. what do you think? is fema necessary? facebook.com/carolcnn. facebook.com/carolcnn. your responses later this hour. are you tired of seeing these two guys all over your tv screen or hearing them on the radio? your not the only one. wait until you hear what one 4-year-old in a swing state said about the race for the white house. out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.
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it is 30 minutes past the hour. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you very much for joining us. five more days. then you can cast your ballot and be done with it. voter fatigue seems to be at an all-time high. i think this little girl sums it up nicely. >> i'm tired -- i'm tired of barack obama and mitt romney. >> that's why you're crying? oh, it will be over soon, abby. okay? the election will be over soon, okay? >> okay. >> i know many of you feel the same way. to think, the election that made that little girl cry has a $6 billion price tag. yes, that would be a record. let's talk about this and more with cnn political analyst roland martin, who leans left. and cnn contributor will cain, who leans right. welcome, gentlemen. >> good morning. >> hey, what's happening. are you leaning, roland?
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i see you're leaning. >> i'm doing the swerve. >> have you cried, like that little girl, wishing the election would be over? >> no. i wish folks would stop whining about this. remember, will is the one who said speaking as a woman about the issue of abortion, so he has experience there. i'll leave it up to him. we're showing a 4-year-old girl. people always say this year that on november 7th when they begin to see who was elected, you begin to hear a whole different conversation. i'm not one of these folks who complains about it. this is one of the most important choices americans can make when it comes to who is president but also worry voting on members of congress, d.a.'s, city council people, you name it, across the states, city and ballot initiatives. this is what it means to be an
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american. >> plus your a political analyst and you make a good living. i'm just kidding. >> no. i do bloev in the concept of vote or shut the hell up. we complain about stuff all too often. so we should recognize that these electrics matter. >> that's true. and i agree with that. these elections do matter. will, do you confess to crying like a little girl, wishing the election would be over? >> no. i also take issue with the fact that it's costing us $6 billion. more speeches involved, more money means more speech. can you make me a promise? from now on every time i'm in the show with roland, will you start every question with like, roland, did you cry like a little girl? and then proceed to the next question. >> i'm sorry. texas longhorn, you will cry like a little girl if you don't beat kansas. ind. >> we have to pivot and have an intelligent conversation. president obama after appearing with new jersey governor chris
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christie who, again, took time to praise the president. let's listen. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. and i heard it on the phone conversations with him. i was able to witness it today personally. and so we're going to continue -- our state government is here, doing what we need to do, we're coordinating with fema i want to thank the president for being here, and the input he has already had. it makes our operation even better. >> some say chris christie could win the election for mr. obama. seriously, will? >> look, i don't know. can he win the election for president obama? the answer is no. that's not going to have that big of an impact on the election. many piem look at chris christie. maybe i'm not looking with the appropriate amount of cynicism. politics deserve cynicism. chris christie has earned the last several years the right to be granted honesty and authenticity. and i think he's a governor, dealing with a tragedy that you really can't overstate if you
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look at pictures, you live up in this area, you know how awful it is. he's dealing with that as his first priority and the president has his back and is giving him credit for that. >> okay. and roland, there are some political conservatives out there who say chris christie is either totally sincere or -- >> he's acting like a governor. where he showed chris christie 12 days ago, going off on the president, saying he had no leadership. guess what, that was politics. the last four days, from the time hurricane sandy what happens when you do show leadership. i think he is doing exactly what a governor should do. bottom line is that he needs his state to recover. he he needs federal funds to do it. he's doing exactly what he should be doing, acting like a governor, not a partisan hack. that is what he should be doing. >> roland martin, will cain, thank you for an interesting
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conversation. bye, guys. >> bye. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. in that tie there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪
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floodwaters from superstorm sandy caught many people by surprise. in her living room when sandy hit, she says she and her husband watched in shock as floodwaters started coming in through the air conditioning vents. the water rose a foot and a half in their home and also flood their car. they're ripping out the carpeting and trying to dry everything out. >> it's rough. emotionally, it's devastating. going through bouts of emotions here. >> reporter: suspect that the way it is? there's moments where you're working, trying to clean up and then it hits you, right? >> yeah, it does. thinking of everything that was under the beds that i lost, pictures i didn't think of, old pictures of me when i was a kid
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that were under the bed. stuff like that. that's hard. >> yeah. what's really hard -- what's the scary part is that even if the family has flood insurance it's not clear whether fema has enough money to cover everyone's claims. business correspondent christine romans is here to help us break down the numbers. okay. that is scary. >> kritian is ensured for $100,000 for the contents of his house and $150,000 for her house if she bought a flood insurance policy. fema administers disaster relief, carol, and the flood insurance program. and it has -- experts tell us about $3.8 billion at its disposal for the flood insurance part of this. now to put it in perspective, back for irene it was $1.8 billion paid out because of flood damage in irene. and you have more people who have flood insurance now, quite frankly. before irene, about 5% of people had flood insurance. now it's 14%.
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there will be more claims for the government to pay out, carol. and as i said, there's about $3.8 billion experts say on hand for them to do that. fema right now in disaster recovery mode. they'll be doing very critical math in the days ahead. >> so i'm scared to ask you this next question because i kind of know what the answer is. what happens if fema runs out of money for the flood insurance program? >> congress has given them this big sort of line of credit with the treasury department. they've got to borrow more money to do that. they would borrow money to pay out those claims and keep its fund flush. when you borrow money from the federal government you have to pay it back, right? you pay it back either by raising premiums, which now they are allowed to do that, or taxpayers take a hit on it eventually. so i don't think we're in a situation where people won't get their claim paid. they have to find the money somewhere, carol. >> and eventually congress would have to approve more funding for fema. we know how that went down the
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last time. >> absolutely. you're absolutely right. you know, look, we live in an era where we're spending more money than we take in and the nation is really grappling with what its priorities are, carol. so far i don't think you've seen a politicization of this storm, right? but when math starts to become critical, that's when politics start to come in. >> christine romans, you're so right. thank you so much. swarm of negative ads and robo calls no longer work in ohio, campaigns turn to the troops. we're talking about volunteers who go door to door. we'll show you how they sway voters. five days before the election.
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will be talking to a crowd. they're sbrousing him now. recent poll suggests that romney has an advantage. he won in verge yain in -- obama won virginia in 2008. when mr. romney begins speaking, woel take that event for you live. seem that is president obama has the lead in the battleground state of ohio. poll of polls shows obama has a three-point lead on romney. it's a combination of five recent polls with only days to go. both campaigns going door to door, racing to get people to the polls, vote for their candidates. here is cnn's don lemon in dayton, ohio. >> reporter: the front line on the ohio battleground, cold, soggy and gray. but neither snow nor sloet nor bad directions -- >> are you lost now? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: shall keep these volunteers from their appointed rounds. why are you doing this? >> to support governor romney.
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>> reporter: when college sophomore and first-time voter sean henning isn't in class or working, he's driving, walking -- >> reporter: is this your in connection one? >> yes. >> reporter: talking to voters. >> if you are going to go vote early or on election day? >> we're going on election day. >> it's cold, rainy, some people slam the door in your face, others don't. >> some people are receptive. >> if i see my man, romney, as the president, yes. >> reporter: president romney is the last thing this woman wants. she says she has a pre-existing medical condition. she put on her boots, put her jewelry business on hold last summer to volunteer full time to make sure president obama and his health care plan stay put. both campaigns say in these critical final moments, they
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need people like beth and shawn. and other dedicated volunteers because of a barrage of negative ads and robo calls have run their course. so it's about personal contact? >> yes. >> reporter: person to person. not robo calls. not mass mailing, what's important to you and what can i say about that subject. >> reporter: you don't get more personal than gayle and matt caffry. >> do you live in mexico now? >> reporter: when they're not out knocking on doors, these neighborhood team leaders rally the obama troops from home, working the phones each evening after work. >> we are very well organized. we have been doing this. a lot of us participated in '08. so it's like a veteran army, going to fight another battle. >> don lemon joins us now from the only early voting location in dayton, ohio. i'm glad you're inside.
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i'll say that for a start. >> me, too. >> reporter: gosi came all bund up and i'm inside. i just asked one of the judges here how it's been going. he said since october 2nd it's been a steady flow. we'll try to get you around the corner a little later on. you can hear people applauding there. that room is full of people, then they stream into here. almost 1.5 million people as of the 26.2 million people, sent out applications for absentee ballots to everyone. so far 1.2 and probably by today, 1.5 million people have voted here already in the state of ohio. they're getting it in early. >> are democrats or republicans saying that benefits them? >> reporter: well, both sides now are saying it benefits them. traditionally, early voting
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benefits democrats. but this time, the republicans have learned from what the obama campaign and democrats did back in 2008. so now they say that they believe that they are benefiting from early voting. here, you don't have to register by party so you don't really know. it could be just talk from both sides. i think what the secretary of state did by mailing out those absentee applications to all of the registered voters, i think he sort of leveled the playing field here. so who knows? >> we'll see. don lemon reporting live from dayton, ohio. many new york police officers and fire crews will be very busy, but not just with disaster relief efforts. instead they will be watching over the new york city marathon. and that has some critics pretty darn angry. make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid.
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is. in new york city, the race will go on. mayor bloomberg said the 43rd annual marathon will take place this sunday at scheduled. that decision is not sitting well with many people. the route for the city's five bu burroughs is unchanged. the race starts in staten island, eight miles across from the neighborhood completely destroyed by fire, breezy point. and ends in central park, which is still cleaning up after half a million dollars worth of damage in trees alone. mary wittenberg is the race director for the new york city marathon. welcome. >> hi, carol. >> as you well know, the city and the mayor and yourself taking a lot of criticism over the decision for the race to go on, because it takes away resources like police and fire from the city. so why not delay the race? >> well, the idea is really to help the city rebound as effectively and efficiently as
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we can. for -- first our hearts go out to all the new yorkers and everybody on the eastern seaboard that's been impacted by the storm. and once the mayor said we want to go forward with the marathon, our job is to do everything we can to make the most of the platform to remember those lost, to honor and support those hurt, and see how we can really mobilize and get more support into the relief effort. we're hoping people nation and worldwide about watch the tv show and say, how can i help, how can i donate, how can i support? >> i think one new york official put it this way. he likened the marathon to a parade, in that people who are standing outside of their ravaged homes will look at it and not be uplifted. it would be the other way around. >> the way we see it here in new york city, and what we're hearing from the city in terms of how the marathon can help, it's going to bring the city together. i would liken it more to a telethon. how can we help raise more
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money, raise more support for the city, for the relief effort, and at the same time, really show the world the spirit of this city. you know, we often talk about the marathon as the triumph of the human spirit. i think this year is the triumph of the new york city area spirit. and that's what -- that's the message, is you can help, show people they can help and show the city will rebound. it will be as vital and as vibrant as ever. >> so there's going to be a lot of runners, almost 50,000. getting the runners to the actual starting point will be quite the issue for you, because the staten island ferry is still not running. how do you plan on getting everyone there? >> so what's key, at every turn we don't want any resources diverted from the recovery effort. and that's everybody's plan, and that's the way this has to be. so what we're doing with transportation is we've gone entirely to private resources. so we will be busing people. we're going out to to get people
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from the new york public library. so it's a whole new transportation system. and it's all built on a plan that seeks to not divert resources from the restoration, recovery. only, in fact, to add to the resources and to get greater support behind this effort city and area-wide. mary wittenberg, good luck sunday and good luck to all of the runners. we appreciate you being with us this morning. >> thanks so much. "talk back" question to you this morning. is semen necessary. your responses next. producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today.
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"talk back" question today. is semen necessary. this from christopher. help yourself. that's not what this country was founded on. this from james, the heavy hand of the feds not welcome or needed. the states are closer to the issues, and their people. this from sally. that should be obvious now. many things government is good
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at. and emergency aid is a great example. and this -- no. fema should go. romney is right on this one. facebook.com/carolcnn. please continue the conversation. the next hour of cnn "newsroom" begins right now. parts of the northeast battered by superstorm sandy. they're now starting on the long journey toward recovery. both campaigns put their focus on the election with stops in ballots ground states today. and just five days until the election. some good news about the economy. it could possibly help president obama. "newsroom" starts now. good morning. thank you so much for being with me, i'm carol costello. five days, only five more days until the presidential election. and both candidates now back on the campaign trail.
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on the right side of your screen, a live picture of mitt romney's event. he's in roanoke, virginia. and on the left, president obama. he's taking off -- actually, president obama is on the top. he's holding oi campaign event in wisconsin. in green bay. both men have suspended campaign events, because of superstorm sandy. jim acosta is at the romney event. and brianna keilar is wait for the president to arrive in green bay. jim, yesterday romney toned down the rhetoric in deference to the storm. what about today we'll. >> reporter: we'll have to see, carol. mitt romney will be here in moments. we're inside a private business in roanoke area, southwest virginia. i can tell you so far, it's starting to look like a presandy political rally for the gop rally. they were showing an updated biographical video of mitt romney, something the campaign has been showing or had been showing before the storm struck
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the northeast. and yesterday at his campaign events, up on these screens behind us at various events, they would only be showing a pitch to donate money to the red cross. there is a difference there. i think that might be a sign of things to come. but carol, all day yesterday, as you mentioned, mitt romney did tone things down. he did not attack the president directly once. he simply tried to weave in his pitch for change in washington. and to basically tone down -- really just talking about how the economy might improve under a romney administration. so perhaps we'll see a little bit of that today. but perhaps also some more of the rhetoric that we were accustomed to before the storm struck. he's going to be in virginia throughout the day today, a few stops in virginia and tomorrow wisconsin and ohio. and as you know, carol, the days are starting tick now, starting to wind down as we get close to election day. it's going to be a very, very hectic schedule. carol? >> i can only imagine. let's head to brianna keilar.
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president obama with storm damage yesterday with the new jersey governor and romney surrogate, chris christie. it was sort of a love fest. will obama try to squeeze some political mileage out of that in wisconsin today? >> reporter: well, if you ask the campaign that, carol, they would tell you absolutely not. it's not about politics when it comes to the storm and his response to it. but the fact is, any observer will tell you, it certainly gave president obama a chance to flex his presidential muscles and do it in a way that i think a lot of people would say was effective at a time when mitt romney was really trying to continue with some momentum. so what we do know is that things are going to start to get back to normal a little bit politically here in green bay. i've heard from a campaign source that president obama will be talking about the storm off the top of his remarks here, which will be in the 11:00 a.m. eastern hour. but then he's also going to be making his case for why he should be re-elected. so that's going to be some of the political stuff, obviously, that we've been used to hearing before this storm. it's important here in
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wisconsin, because while the president has consistently had a little bit of a lead here, it's not terribly comfortable. the one poll we saw today, "the wall street journal" and nbc news poll shows he's got a three-point lead in wisconsin. but the obama campaign will point to a marquette poll, a local poll that came out yesterday, showing him with an eight-point lead. the truth is, maybe somewhere in between there and so the obama campaign may be trying to shore up support here in wisconsin. >> brianna keilar from green bay, wisconsin. the president expected to speak at 11:00 a.m. eastern, about an hour, when the president begins speaking we'll take his remarks live. and, of course, governor romney was scheduled to speak at the top of this hour. 10:00 eastern. he's running a little bit late. but when mitt romney takes to the podium, we'll also take his remarks live. we're also diving deeper into the key battleground states. coming up, early voting under way in florida. find out what that means for the candidates.
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encouraging economic news. 158,000 jobs added in october. according to adp. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange to tell us what it means. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. this is the kind of report the market doesn't necessarily swear by. it's more of an appetizer to the big jobs coming out friday. but what adp did say, private employers added 158,000 jobs in october. that came in better than expected. it wound up being a good indication of what could happen friday. which will actually be coming out before the opening bell. they had gotten word the government jobs report will, in fact, come out, because there was some speculation that the labor department -- was thinking about delay it, because of hurricane sandy. clearly wasn't the most ideal thing, considering the election is a few days away, probably would have brought out some conspiracy they'rists.
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but the expectation for the government jobs rate something from 105,000 jobs to 130,000. you know what reality is? even with those gains, we're still at the point where we're only adding enough to barely keep up with population growth. and that figure -- these kinds of figures even in the triple digits, they're not really going to bring down unemployment in a significant way. which, by the way, unemployment is expected to edge up to 7.9% tomorrow. but, look, this number is going to be closely watched, because it is a last jobs report before the election. but analysts say -- you know what, it's not going to have a huge impact on how people decide they're going to vote. >> carol, i think you're probably right about that. alison kosik reporting live from the new york stock exchange. now to new york where people are reeling, still reeling from super storm sandy. the last of the patients evacuated from bellevue hospital, one of the largest in the entire country. national guard troops lined the
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stairwells to usher out more than 700 patients. they were forced to evacuate after the storm knocked out power and flooding damaged the generators. the generators also failed. the soldiers, they call themselves, quite, a human bucket brigade. i'll just call them life-savers. on to the new jersey shore, seaside heights was destroyed by superstorm sandy, washing away some of the most iconic attractions. the storm personally touched governor chris christie. >> we'll rebuild it. no question on my mind, we'll rebuild it. but for those of us who are my age, it won't be the same. it will be different. >> yes. they will rebuild, but it will indeed be different. so how does a town start again after being nearly wiped out? i want to bring in seaside heights mayor bill acres. welcome mayor. >> thank you very much for having me. >> we're grateful you took some time out of your morning to be
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with us. first of all, give us an update about your town. >> right now, we're blessed, we're getting porta potties in, some portable hot showers that we will have by noon today. we have crews in from many other states to work on our electric. we've got some bad news last night. the bridge coming into town was deemed unsafe. the extent of which i can't tell you at this time. so that's one of the main bridges coming into seaside heights. down route 35 towards point pleasant, it's -- looks like a -- they were cut off from that end. i don't know what they're going to do there. whether it's -- they're going to have to build a bridge to connect us with point pleasant again. you connect down the 35 going north from seaside heights. >> you sound so -- >> we have a meeting going on
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that i'm going to jump to in a minute that we're going to do a final door-to-door with anybody that's left here. part of the process will also be animal control. we'll be able to take any animals left behind. our main thing, because as we try to restore services to the town, we've had many gas leaks. a lot of them have been capped. but we've got to turn on services slowly but surely. we don't have water pressure that if, in fact, anything was to combust, we could handle it. there is no pressure right now. >> there are so many decisions you have to make as a public official. we're taking a look at this iconic amusement park, and it's so bizarre to see some of the rides now in the ocean, off the jersey shore. and when you look at these iconic things, in your area, and you think to yourself, can we possibly rebuild, do you answer
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yourself yes? >> it's mind-boggling. it honestly is mind-boggling. i would have to -- i'm 100% sure we're going to rebuild. but what it's going to be, i don't know at this point. i mean, the planning stage is going to be one of the most crucial stages. once we really can get a final assessment, we're getting visual pictures from the overhead, the extent of the damage underneath with foundations, piers, the integrity of our streets, we've had a problem with sinkholes throughout the county. once we can get a final, real good assessment, then we can start the planning stages and see -- and then we're going to -- we're going to rebuild. there is no question in my mind, we'll rebuild. . but some critics say some of those homes that were destroyed
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by sandy should not be rebuilt. some of those neighborhoods should not be replaced. maybe this amusement park should not be what it was before. are those critics right? >> i -- i don't -- i guess maybe one of the good things, i've been cut off from so much that i don't have to listen to that. i know that what's important to the people of seaside heights is going to be foremost in my mind. and there's millions of people around the country that have been affected by this that i promise you want to see seaside heights rebuilt. part of the charm was the small little cot taxetagecottages, an landscape was unmistakable, you knew where you were. visual recognition was instantaneous in your mind when
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you saw it flash through the screen. >> mayor, i'm going to let you get to your meeting. thank you so much for taking the time out to join us this morning. >> thank you. and take care. >> getting around new york city is still a nightmare. laguardia airport hit hard by sandy. opened just a few hours ago, but it has limited service. there is also limited service at some other new york airports. only a few subway lines back up and run, but trains will stay away from lower manhattan, where the power is still out. buses are packed with many people waiting for hours and hours in line to get on a bus. and then there's the traffic gridlocks. streets are packed. mayor michael bloomberg says all cars coming into manhattan must have at least three people inside. rob marciano live on the brooklyn bridge. any traffic to speak of there, rob? >> reporter: you know, not terrible. not terrible at the moment. so we'll show you that in a second. of course, the subways, as you mentioned, downtown or south of
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34th street, they're shut down. so a number of them converged here at city hall before the j. so people are frustrated with that. but you know what? there are some signs of life. people are going to get in their coffee and doughnuts. some of the trucks are out. a lot of municipal buildings down here, courts down here, the board of ed down hi here. so a number of spots where the city basically runs down here. and still without power. that's still expected to be the case. so at least until tomorrow, maybe the next day. so tells us con-ed and the outer lying areas could be as much as a week or two. you mentioned the buses running limitedly. but the further north you go, pushing and shoving, as well. i'm going to show you a little bit in the sun, this may not look too great, but there is the brooklyn bridge. traffic moving okay, and foot traffic, as well. we caught up with pedestrians. here's what they had to say about their commute. >> everybody is trying to get in and get back to the normal
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thing. >> do you normally walk over brooklyn bridge to get to work? >> no, i don't. but this morning i thought that was my best bet. >> 35 minutes door-to-door. so i'm expecting a two-hour walk. but it's a beautiful day out. >> reporter: is so you're okay with the walk today. >> absolutely. i'm worried about getting home. that's a long day at work. hopefully trains and buses start working. we'll do it. >> started off walking the bridge. i hope to find a bus on the other side. and then the subway at midtown. that's the plan. i don't know how long it will take. but that's the plan. >> reporter: a crisp but sunny day today. so for the most part, people excited to get out and walk. a bit of a novelty. that may change as temperatures drop over the weekend, not only for people walking the bridge, but for people without power that don't have any heat. so survival skills may be put to the test here going forward. day three now of no power, and, you know, older people, more mobile people who live higher
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up, carol, that is a struggle to get down and up those stairs to get supplies. so that's where we're going to start to see people really start to -- i wouldn't say panic, but nerves are certainly frayed, for sure. >> i've got to tell you, my home is in baltimore, and when the sun finally came out yesterday, i just ran outside. i just wanted to feel the sun again. so just the fact that the sun is out in new york city must be kind of uplifting. >> reporter: it is. people in good spirits again today. and a lot of people coming over from brooklyn, at least some of them, actually have power. so it's easier to be smiling in that respect. but, again, the longer we go into this power outage, and the colder the temperatures get and the more we get into this, okay, this little adventure of not having to go to work and being without power is over, now it's really become an inconvenience, and eventually for the weaker, it's a matter of survival so a more serious situation. so the pressure certainly is on con-ed.
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but it is what it is. in the underwater infrastructure, it's been flooded and compromised. that takes a while to dry out and fix. >> rob marciano reporting live this morning. check out cnn.com/impact. a lot of resources on the battleground state of florida. early voting under way. find out if that could tip the election one way or the other. endless shrimp is our most popular promotion
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florida has 29 electoral votes, one of the biggest battleground states, as you know. and voting early has turned into quite the frenzy. here is cnn's john zarelia. >> reporter: call it the florida frenzy that gets people on their feet and singing. ♪ >> reporter: some camped out just to say they could be first in the door. you would think it was an after-christmas sale. >> we have got sleeping bags in case it gets cold, a blanket. >> reporter: some came by bus from churches.
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and long lines not a deterrent. >> we waited hundreds of years to get here. so what is three or four hours? >> reporter: this is early voting in florida. democrats make an appoint to turn out big numbers in early voting, and they usually outnumber republicans. and if you want to avoid the long lines on election day, well, you stand in long lines now. wait up to five hours in some places. this may be the product of some residual, subliminal, long-lasting after effect from the 2000 election fiasco here. remember, 537 votes. bottom line, people here believe every vote counts. although there are some who just don't trust this early voting stuff. and simply won't do it. >> i always have felt that voting on the day of the election, my vote would really be counted. and i've heard of other scenarios in which people have voted early and their vote doesn't get counted. >> reporter: state election officials say 9 million of
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florida's 19 million people will vote in this election. roughly 40% of them before election day. either by early voting or absentee ballot. while early voting is democratic party strength, republicans traditionally do very well in absentee ballot. in miami-dade county, 130,000 ballots have been returned, sorted by precincts, and in some cases, if there is no signature -- >> reject. >> the returns an absentee ballots have been somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000 a day. >> reporter: while all this is going on behind the scenes, workers at phone banks for both parties -- >> did you mail in your absentee ballot? >> reporter: are urging voters to get out there. [ speaking in spanish ]. >> reporter: because both parties know, once again in florida, this election could be -- too close to call. >> keep on battling -- >> that was john zarelia
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reporting. and we can see now, republican candidate mitt romney is speaking. >> this election will have enormous consequences. i want to thank ricky scaggs for entertaining you before we got here. he has done quite a job. he has been traveling with us around the country and helping us at events. it's just marvelous to have folks from the entertainment community out there singing and performing to make sure people are coming and listening to our message. just a note also about the tragedies of the last several days. as you know, the extraordinary storm that hit a great part of the atlantic coast did not hit as hard here as it might have. but across other parts of the country, it hit very hard. a lot of people lost their lives. a lot of families have been devastated. a lot of homes have been lost and property lost, and our hearts go out to the people who are suffering. please make sure, if you have an extra dollar or more than that, to assembled send it along to
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the red cross or salvation army or some other relief effort to make sure we show the world and our neighbors how much we care. we love those in need. there are other things you can do this morning besides come listen to a couple political folks. and you're here, i believe, because you recognize this is an election of consequence. the choice that gets made on november 6th will not just set the course for four years, but in fact will have an impact on america for many years to come. for a generation, at least. this is a very critical time to decide what america is going to be. what kind of life you're going to live in your homes and in your families. i happen to believe that the choice you make will have enormous consequence for a senior who is perhaps needing the care of a specialist. if he or she makes a call to the doctor and if obama care is
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installed and the president is re-elected, when making that call, you're most likely going to have the receptionist come back and say sorry, we're not making anymore medicare patients. because the president is cutting medicare to pay for obama care. and for people in their 40s and 50s, these are supposed to be your high-earning years. does it feel like that right now? >> audience: no! >> there's too many people having a hard time making ends meet. the median income in america has dropped by $4,300 over the last for you years. so now you're earning $4,300 a year less than you were four years ago. and gasoline prices? they've gone up $2,000 per family. and that health insurance cost, they've gone up $2,500 a family. middle-income people in america have really been squeezed. and so people recognize this is an election that will make a real difference. now, the president's proposal in a setting like this is to continue on the same road. he has the campaign slogan, which is forward. i saw the signs out front.
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forward. i think forewarned is a better word. >> i mean, do you want four more years like the last four years? i mean, do you want four more years where 23 million americans are struggling to have a good job? do you want four more years where earnings are going down every year? do you want four more years of trillion-dollar deficits in washington? how about four more years of gridlock in washington? there's no question in my view that we really can't have four more years like the last four years. i know that the obama folks are chanting four more years. but our chant is this. five more days. five more days.
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>> you know, we're going to have to -- we're going to have to come up with a better slogan tomorrow, or a different one, at least. now, i know the president has been trying to figure out some way to suggest he's got some new ideas. because with all these people out of work, with 3 million more women in poverty today than when he took office, with 15 more million people on food stamps than when he took office, he's got to find something to suggest it's going to be better over the next four years. and so we came up with an idea last week, which is he's going to create the department of business. i don't think adding a new chair in his cabinet will help add millions of jobs on main street.
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i mean, unfortunately, what you you're seeing before your eyes is a campaign that keeps on shrinking and shrinking to smaller things. and he's talking about how he's going to save big bird. and then playing silly word games with my last name. and then -- or first. and then attacking me day in and day out. attacking me doesn't make an agenda. doesn't get people back to work. we don't need the secretary of business to understand business. we need a president who understands business, and i do. this isn't the time for small measures. this is a time for greatness. this is a time for big change. for real change.
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and that's why this as your next senator said, from day one, he's going make changes, i'm going to make real changes, i'm going get this economy going from day one we're making changes. let me tell you some of the things we're going to do. we've got five critical things i want to do to get this economy going. and the governor mentioned one of them. and that is energy. i want to take full advantage of our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, our renewables. and i know -- that you know, when we have more plentiful energy, and we can have north american energy independence within eight years, what that means, of course, is lower prices at the pump and lower costs for fuel at your home. it also means jobs. and that's the reason i mention it. because it's not only jobs in the energy sector. coal and gas and oil. but it's also jobs in manufacturing, like right here. because there's a lot of energy used in the lumber products
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arena, and making fiberglass and assembling these products and manufacturing them. when energy costs are lower, then we're able to create more manufacturing jobs. and that's why it's so critical. we have this ace in the hole, this energy. and the president has been stalling on this for the last four years. and i won't stall. we're going to unleash the power of our energy resources and get america working again. number two. we're going to open more trade. trade works for us. we're a very productive people. we make more stuff per person in america than almost any other nation on earth. more than any of the other large nations. and because of our productivity, opening up new markets for us to sell goods to creates jobs and higher income. so i want to open up more markets, particularly in latin america, where we have natural language advantages, time zone advantages. latin america's economy is almost as big as china's. so i want to open up more trade.
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but by the way, if nations cheat and china has not played by the rules, they're going have to be held accountable. we can't let them steal jobs through unfair trade practices. number three. is good training for people who need training, and by the way, we also need to have great schools for the coming generation. look, our schools have fallen off from the very top, and now they're in the bottom third or bottom quarter. that's unacceptable. time for us to make sure we put our kids and their parents and the teachers first and the teachers' union is going to have to go behind. number four. we have really got to do something to create jobs that may not be immediately connected in people's minds with jobs. and that relates to the federal budget and the deficit. you see, if you're an entrepreneur thinking about starting a business like the marvin family did in the early 1900s, or if you're a big company thinking of expanding,
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you have to ask yourself, is america on the road to greece? are we on the road to economic crisis, as you're seeing in europe and italy and spain and other parts of the world. if we keep on spending, $1 trillion more than we take in, america is going to be, in fact, in that kind of circumstance down the road. and so we're going to have to make sure that people who would think about investing here are inclined to do so, because we're able to deal with our great challenges fiscally. and so that means i'm going to do something that's been spoken about for years, but hasn't been done. and that is, i'm going to consult federal spending, cup it, and finally get us on track to a balanced budget. and number five. number five. we have to champion small business. we have to help small businesses grow and thrive. that's where jobs come from. and there are a couple ways to do that. one, we've got to make sure the regulators understand their job is not just to catch bad guys, but also to encourage the good
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guys. we need regulation, but they need to be up to date and regulators have to see businesses like this as their friends, and encourage them and support them. and by the way, we can't tax them to death. i was with a business person in st. louis, four employees in the electronics business. and he his son calculated how much money they send to the government every year out of their business. and he put down how much for the federal income tax and then the federal payroll tax and then the state income tax and then real estate tax and then gasoline tax. and it was over half of what they made. and he said, think about this. you start a business, your chance of success is not even as good as 50-50. most small businesses won't make it. so it's a risky thing to do. and if you're successful, the government wants more than half what you make. so a lot of people decide not to build businesses. today we're at the lowest level of new business start-ups in 30 years. so i want to change this dynamic
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and make business recognize they have a friend in washington, not a foe. and i believe we do that, we do those five things and get those five done, we're going create 12 million new jobs and more take-home pay. now, by the way, the governor also mentioned something about my record as governor in terms of reaching across the aisle. recognize, to get those five things done, and to get america strong again, we have to stop the dividing and the attacking and the demonizing. we've got to reach across the aisle, bring in good democrats with good republicans and finally do the people's business and put the politics behind. i will do that. they're -- look, they're very
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different futures in mind. when people think about this election, when you talk to your friends about who they're going to vote for, and i want you to do that, find at least one person who voted for barack obama, and convince them to come vote for me instead. and for george allen, as well. and when you go through that, you can answer these questions and say, look, if the president is re-elected, we're going to have $20 trillion in debt at the end of four years. and america is going to be closer to the economic crisis that you're seeing in europe. if i'm elected, we're going to get america finally on track to a balanced budget. the president's re-elected, you're going to cut medicare by $716 billion to pay for obamacare. if i'm re-elected -- excuse me, if i'm elected -- let me strike that. when i'm elected -- we're going
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to restore that funding to medicare, and also we're going to repeal and replace obamacare so your premiums don't go up by $2,500 a year. if the president is re-elected, i don't care how much he talks about liking all of the above when it comes to energy. because i know what he means by all of the above. he means all of the energy that comes from above the ground, all right? wind and solar. i like wind and solar, too, but i also like the energy that comes from below the ground. oil, coal and gas, and we'll get it under my administration. i can also tell you this. if the president were to be re-elected, you're going to see high levels of unemployment continue. and stalled wage growth. if any wage growth at all. just like we have seen over the last four years. we know something about the past, we have seen what his
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policies have produced. the only way to get this economy going is the kind of bold change i've described, real change from day one, with those five steps, that will get this economy going, create jobs, rising take-home pay. we'll have a very different future when i get elected with your help. now, i want you to know, i'm confident about the future. i'm optimistic. i think our puch is future is going to be brighter than the past. i know we've had a glorious past as a nation, i know we're going through tough times right now. sometimes we tend to think what we're in is the wayle it will always be. but it's going to change. we need real change. for real change, we have to take a different course. and i think that's what americans are going to do on november 6th. and i believe that one of the things that will drive this country forward is the character and heart of the american people. that's where my confidence comes
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from. we're a patriotic, hard-working,in aggravative, creative, risk-taking, business-start, education-seeking people. it's who we are. and i have throughout my life seen some of the great qualities of the human spirit in the american people that i've come to know. there are some stories i love to tell that describe something about the american heart. i was a leader in the boy scouts of america some years ago. and i was in a court of honor. a court of honor is where we give out eagle scout awards and other awards to boy scouts. and i was at a table -- a for mica table at the end of the gymnasium, next to the american flag. and the person who was speaking at the microphone was the scout master from monument, colorado. and he said their scout troop wanted to have a special flag.
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so they bought an american flag, gold as it sells around it. and when they came home, they said i wonder if we could have it go up on the space shuttle so they contacted nasa. nasa agreed. he said you can't imagine the pride of our boys watching from their classrooms, seeing the space shuttle "challenger" launch from the tv screen. and then they saw it explode on the tv. and he said he called nasa a couple weeks later and said, have you found any remnant of our flag. and they hadn't. he said he called every week month after month, still nothing. and then he was reading an article in the paper about some of the debris from the "challenger" disaster, and it mentioned a flag. and so he called nasa, and they said, in fact, we have a presentation to make to your boys. nasa came out and presented them with a plastic container. and he said, we opened it up and there was our flag in perfect condition.
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and -- and he said that's it on the flagpole next to mr. romney here. and i reached over and grabbed the flag, pulled it out. and it was as if electricity had run through my arm. because i thought of the people in our space program who have taken risk, put themselves in harm's way. for learning, for pioneering, for knowledge, for us, for their fellow citizens. think of the men and women in our military, as the governor indicated, who serve our nation, put themselves in harm's way. there is a verse in one of our national hymns i enjoy most. it's the -- the hymn is "america the beautiful." and the verse says "oh beautiful
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for heroes prove in liberating strife who more themselves in country love and mercy more than life." thanks to our veterans and all those that serve. thank you also -- thank you also to people of america's national character that serve in other ways. that exemplifies something about our american spirit. and that is that we live for things bigger than ourselves. it seems to be part of our national character. we're not entirely focused on us. we're focused on things around us. we care about our families, our churches, synagogues, we care about our communities. our schools. our country. it's part of what america is. i've seen it in so many ways. my sister is a hero to me. they say that to be a hero, you don't have to be larger than life. just larger than yourself.
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my sister has eight children. she's now in her 70s, her husband passed away a few years ago. her seven oldest children are all married with kids of their own. her eighth child is down syndrome. jeffrey is now 43. and is i've watched lynn throughout those 43 years do everything in her power to give them a fulfilled and abundant life. she is a hero. because she gives of herself to someone else she loves. i think of all the single moms -- the single moms across america. yeah. who are -- in many cases, struggling, scraping by a bit. to make sure they have enough money to put a good meal on the table at the end of the day for their kids. i think of all of the dads and moms working two jobs right now, to make sure that their kids will be able to have the kind of clothes the other kids at school have, so they won't stand out.
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think of all of the parents this christmas who after all these tough years, four very difficult years, are saying we can't exchange gifts with one another. we're instead going to make sure we can give enough to our kids for a great christmas for them. it's part of who we are as a people. we have very full hearts. there was a tv show some years ago, you may have seen, with a fictional football team, and when this football female woute would leave the locker room, they would touch a sign on the doorway and it said this. "clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose." this november, i know you people in this room have very clear eyes. you know the consequence of what this election means. you have full hearts, and we can't lose. we need you, virginia. we have got to take back america. and i'm counting on you. georgia is counting on you. let's make sure we keep america the hope of the earth. thank you so very much.
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>> all right. you just heard the republican presidential candidate, mitt romney, talking to a raucous crowd in roanoke, virginia. >> we'll analyze his speech on the other side of the break. president obama has a campaign appearance in green bay, wisconsin that will start at the top of the hour. we'll be back with much more. nsn who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child,
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all right. we just heard mitt romney give a rousing speech in roanoke, virginia. now let's analyze what he said. we have our cnn contributor here, democratic strategist maria cardona and anna representative arresto, a republican strategist. good morning. >> good morning, carol. >> it was an uplifting speech. mitt romney certainly played the optimist. >> yeah, he's gotten the hang of
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it. i think these last speeches have been -- really hit the mark. got the crowd on their feet, enthusiastic. it's exactly what he needs to do these last few days of the campaign. get his base thufd, get them out to work. it's all about the ground game right now. we're only five days away. and -- but who is counting? >> oh, i am, believe me. maria, it was an optimistic speech, but there was not much new. perhaps the only new thing was the criticism of mr. obama's idea to create a secretary of business. >> yes, i agree, carol. and i agree with anna. it was an optimistic speech and he is so much better now at personalizing his speeches. the problem is, there is a big dissonance, carol, between what he's actually saying and what his policies would actually do. i was glad to hear he mentioned veterans, which he completely ignored and turned his back on during the convention speech want but he also really praised our men and women at nasa, also
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did that in his convention speech. but if you look at what his budget and paul ryan's budget would do, it would decimate nasa. he also had a great story about a woman with a heartwrenching story about a woman with a kid with down syndrome. guess what? if he repeals obama care, that child will be in danger, because they will no longer be able to get insurance coverage because of that preexisting condition. and single moms, yes, his heart goes out to single moms, but he also wants to take away their free preventative care and single moms need it more than anybody else some those are the policies that really don't jive with his positive words. that's what the obama campaign will point out. >> okay, care to rebut? >> look, i think most of us are still reeling from sandy. we have been. and in these last two or three days staying away from these kind of attacks. i'm not sure maria got the memo, but i did. and you know, i think that the
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tone that both mitt romney and president obama have taken -- as reresumed campaigning is one of offering their proposals, offering their ideas. and by the way, carol, you're not going to get anything new. you don't get new ideas five days out, six days out. it's not the time to be trying anything new. so we're basically going to hear the same stump speeches from president obama and mitt romney between now and november 6th until our ears bleed. >> thank you, carol. i want to be very clear. what i talked about was certainly not an attack. i was simply pointing out the dissonance and the fact that what his words are saying don't jive with what his policies would actually do. >> my friend, if it sounds like an attack and looks like an attack, it's an attack. >> let's center on sandy for a minute, because anna, you brought it up. mitt romney began his speech by saying please make a donation to
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the red cross, made absolutely no mention of fema and yesterday his campaign put out this message that he supports help that the government might provide to storm victims. so why not mention that statement in his speech today? >> again, carol, because you're not going to get him to say anything that is controversial. i think he has clarified somewhat the statements he made about fema and that debate. and i can tell you, as somebody from florida who has seen fema in action, i've survived many hurricane here and so have most floridans. i've lived here 32 years. the coordination that the federal government provides and the resources that they provide are essential in an emergency and in a crisis like this. and i think that, you know -- that it's something that he's understood. it seems to me he's no longer talking about privatizing fema, which is a good thing. as a floridan, something i certainly appreciate. >> well, maria, do you think he means it?
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>> well, i think what -- i think what he means to do is to say anything that will get him elected, and he understands that what he said during the primary season about fema right after this horrific storm that has affected millions of people in terms of privatizing fema, is hurting him. and so, of course, he's going to walk it back. but i think all voters know now that this is somebody who will stay and do anything to get elected. he's clearly walked back a lot of his extreme positions. we have seen that in the last several weeks, because he knows that if he holds to those extreme positions, which he had to embrace during the primary, in order to get nominated, that it will hurt him with independent voters. so, again, the dissonance between what he is saying now, what he has said in the past, and what his policies will actually do is something that voters are going to continue to hear about from the obama campaign and their surrogates as they should. >> maria cardona, anna navarro, thanks so much.
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the closer we get to the election, the more the truth seems to be stretched. in one particular ad, it's getting a lot of criticism from many different kinds of entities. first, listen. >> obama took gm and chrysler into bankruptcy. and sold chrysler to italians who are going to build jeeps in china. >> really? after all that federal bailout money, it's china that will get all the jobs? right away, the white house unleashed its attack dogs. >> they're running the most scurrilous ad in ohio. they assert that president obama forced chrysler into bankruptcy so the italians could take over chrysler. and ship jeep manufacturing to
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china. that's what the ad says. that's what the ad said. it's an outrageous lie. >> don avalon is a cnn contributor who also serves as a senior political columnist for "ne "newsweek" and the daily beast. joining from us youngstown, ohio. i know you've done a lot of reporting on this issue. is the ad inaccurate? >> reporter: the ad is inaccurate, but it really is resonating here in ohio, and not in a good way for the romney campaign. a lot of voters i've spoken to, they've heard about the ad, they've seen it and understand it's an attempt to muddy the waters and play fast and loose with the facts. that's not helping the romney campaign. voters i've spoken to say he didn't need to do this. why did he do this late in the game? we also spoke to ohio senators, rob portman and sherrod brown about the ad. and here's what they said, carol. >> i say it's the most disingenuous ad i've seen. they know better. they know the auto rescue worked.
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they understand that 800,000 ohioans are connected directly or indirectly to the auto rescue. they know that governor romney and my opponent's proposition to the auto rescue -- they're trying to cloud the issue. and it's pretty outrageous. >> it's fair game to the extent it's reported in the media, and that's all he said, there have been reports this could happen. the bigger issue for me, who has the best policies to be sure we can continue to manufacture here in america. >> reporter: so both campaigns -- surrogates fighting over this ad. but the squabbling itself is a distraction. and, again, voters here saying they're not sure why the romney campaign decided to double down on this. auto industry so important to voters here in ohio and michigan. and this ad seems to have caused a distraction more than an asset. >> well, and the auto manufacturers, they're not very happy with this ad, either, because even they say it's not true. >> that's right, carol. and if you're looking for a
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tie-breaker between surrogates on both sides, listen to the automakers. gm weighed with an uncharacter industry strong statement calling it campaign politics at its worst. that's strong language from an auto manufacturer who tries to stay out of politics down the stretch. so that's an attempt to clarify. and that's something that's resonating here. >> all right, john avalon reporting live from youngstown, ohio this morning. and that does it for me. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me today. "newsroom" continues after a break with ashleigh banfield. [ female announcer ] today, jason is here
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